I can only say that any company that has been or is being backstoped by the taxpayers has no right to pay any bonuses at all. Not until all support is paid back or terminated. This would include borrowing funds from the Fed at ZIRP and using the funds to gamble.

Ortherwise, it is up to the stockholders to stop this type of greed.

We just need more folks like you and Lynn Tilton, who can identify the problems and the circumstances that created them; and know the direction we need to take to get everything untangled. There are only a handful of you all out there that can maintain your focus in order to unravel this snake.

It will take a massive undertaking (won’t happen under this presidency) to get it started. Keep talking, it cannot hurt to enlighten as many as possible until the truth finally seeps out; even to those who cannot handle it at this time. Hopefully we still have enough left to save and enough time when we all begin to focus in the right direction. Good luck. -bb

No they should not hand out the obscene bonuses. Yes there should be a max. wage law (but theree won’t be). We will do nothing about the working poor, until the numbers are so staggering in that catagory that it won’t help. 2009 gave us a really good start in that direction; two more years like that one and we will have landed. -bb

I did the math based on a $2,000.00 per year High Deductible ($5000.00 deductible) Health Insurance plan and the answer is 2,200,000 people would have a Health Plan to cover any Major Medical Issues. That’s just with the BofA bonuses. You could extrapolate that across the 10 largest banks and low and behold you have 22 Million Americans with Health Insurance. Hmmmmmmm makes you think doesn’t it.

Once upon a time in America we had something called progressive taxation, based on the premise that a dollar is worth more to someone making $20,000 a year than it is to someone making 2 million a year.

The further we have gotten away from progressive taxation, the more wealth has been concentrated in the hands of a few, and the less is left for the poor and middle class.

Those in the top income brackets benefit proportionally more from the existing system.

We are all interconnected and interdependent. We all benefit from the system to varying degrees.

Best to all,
wordherder

I am surprised that nobody has referred to the recent Supreme Court ruling that was purposely widely ruled to give “corporate personhood” free speech in the form of even more money to candidates. The first order will be to flood our airwaves with more campaign propaganda to assure that the corporate agenda rules.

It should be painfully aware to all that both parties are held hostage by large business interests. This idiotic ruling will institutionalize bribery in the form of contributions, or even worse, attack ads against the few politicians left who have the peoples best interest at heart.

Today I talked with a long time customer and friend who said he was sick of the extreme left and extreme right and he wanted someone in the middle. That is a false argument as a Democratic corporate stooge and a Republican corporate stooge are one in the same. A stooge in the “middle” is no better alternative.

As far as maximum pay limits are concerned, I don’t like the idea much. It would be unworkable as the wealthy always seem to have ways to skirt everything. I also believe people have been conditioned to worship the rich and envy their lifestyle. We idolize celebrity for some strange reason and it is getting worse, not better. Consider what passes for television these days.

Last month our church fired the Sunday School director because she offended the wealthiest member family in some trivial way. The whole congregation was scared to stand up to these rich and powerful people.

This problem will continue until we won’t tolerate it anymore and get off our dead asses and do something about it. I’m afraid it will have to get ugly before that happens.

The boardroom is in many ways the royal court of a small fiefdom. Unless you have built this fiefdom by your own hand there are certain rules for becoming a member of the court. You must have the right connections with powers both in and outside the court. Preferably those with either large amounts of stock, money, or political influence.

It helps to have an easily recognized family name but a degree from one of the great royal colleges will suffice. You must court several existing nobles to find a “Rabi” or “Mentor” to propose your elevation to the court and it will be necessary to follow his lead in votes until you have gained sufficient power of your own.

It is perfectly acceptable to belong to numerous such courts in your early career. The pay is low but meetings are few, expense paid and often at luxury resorts. The political intrigue is fascinating and the opportunities to accumulate owed favors is considerable.

You will need such favors to get a paying executive position and of course when you do get such a position you will be in debt to those who put you there. There are many different levels of courts from the Pink Sheets to the Great Houses of Wall Street. Welcome to the Great Game and watch your back there are sharp knives around.

Wordherder,

You are correct, if we could change the political system in the manner that you suggested, those in power would be there temporarily and would do a much better job!

Hutch,
Aw yes, the board room shuffle, a complicated dance to master. Ya gotta go along to get along if you get my drift.

Don’t rock the boat, align yourself with the movers and shakers, and who knows, in a few years you may be a committee chairman or even move up to the executive committee.

If you’re really good, you may even find yourself on the Executive compensation committee where the CEO gets a golden parachute and you get to ride on the jet.

Ah, the good life is just one compromised soul away.

So, why did they revolt? My answer is freedom. They had tasted freedom in a new country with unlimited possibilities and understood the crushing heavy handed rule of a Monarchy.

Most of them had government experience and yes, most of them had money, but they were being heavily taxed and controlled.

“The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the AUTHOR.” — Thomas Paine

Mike,

That finite amount of existing money is not finite, it is actually growing by a couple trillion this year. The FED just prints some more as it sees fit.

A much larger area of concern is the unfunded claims already made against the future “pot”.

All of the bonus money, base salaries, stock options, perks and petty cash of all the banks, corporations and trust funds in the country will not be enough to cover the bill. The annual costs will exceed the entire GNP in a few years.

We have promised ourselves into oblivion and without drastic measures in the areas of spending control. population reduction, trade deficit reduction and domestic energy production. We don’t have the potential of WW2 with the mobilization of the entire workforce and rationing to bai us out this time.

In a word, $100 million bonuses are rather insignificant beyond the perception of it being greedy.

I fully believe we will see a repudiation of the national debt in the near future and probably before the end of the current presidiential term.

Clyde,
I go back to my article, the lower 80% of Americans have been marginalized to holding less than 15% of the nations wealth. To them, the $100 Million bonus is very much a big deal.

Certainly you are correct in that we have promised greater than 100%. Perhaps greater than 200% of any physical possibility. As always, thanks for your input.

George,

Piranhas are small fish that travel in large schools and eat big fish.

Ed,

Thanks for commenting. I certainly agree with your conclusion. We have a systemic problem that will require a major overhaul, should we ever hope to restore Middle America.